Public transit users who would like to test the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) before its inauguration will be able to do so free of charge on July 29 and 30 between Brossard and Central Station in downtown Montreal.
The REM, which will enter service on July 31, will make stops at five stations: Brossard, Du Quartier, Panama, Île-des-Soeurs and Central Station as part of the first phase of the project.
In order to familiarize themselves with this new, fully automated mode of transport, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, announced on Monday that the public will be able to board the REM free of charge between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. week of July 29 and 30. Animation activities are also planned at the Esplanade PVM of Place Ville-Marie.
Redesign of the bus network
Two weeks away from the commissioning of the light rail, the action is in full swing in anticipation of the changes in habits that users on the South Shore will have to adopt because, as of July 31, most of the buses that transporting passengers traveling on the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge will be transferred to the REM stations in Brossard.
Thus, 18 Société de transport de Montréal (STM) bus lines will now be connected to the REM on Île-des-Soeurs. On the South Shore, the transition will take place in two phases. As of July 31, bus lines 5, 15, 42, 44 and 60 will be moved to the Panama station in Brossard, and the Chevrier express service (90) will be redirected to REM stations. The full deployment of the redesigned network in the Longueuil agglomeration will be completed on August 21.
To facilitate the transition for some users, a bus line (742) from the Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL) will be temporarily in place until August 21 and will take the Samuel-De Champlain bridge to connect the Brossard station to Central Station.
Remember that the REM trains, which will be in operation from 5:30 a.m. to around 1 a.m., will run every 3 minutes 45 seconds during peak hours (from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 3:00 p.m. h 30 to 18 h 30) and every 7 minutes 30 seconds outside peak hours.
Public transit users will be able to use the Opus card, but will have to purchase all-mode AB passes, at a cost of $4.50 per trip, to travel between Montreal and Zone B of the South Shore. This title will allow them to travel in the Montreal metro network and in Laval.
Further details will follow.